4wd Rims And Tyres Explained – Rims

How often have you talked to a 4wd enthusiast about their 4wd rims and tyres? Have you managed to make head or tail of what they say?

Have you ever seen a post on a forum asking for advice about what 4wd rims and tyres to run? The strings of numbers that people come out with are sometimes harder to follow than the ideas of Sheldon Cooper from the Big Bang Theory!

If I said to you that “My 4wd rims and tyres are a set of 285/75/R16s on a 16 x 7.5 steel rim with a +10 offset” (which I don’t by the way) would that send you stark screaming crazy?

If that sounds like you then read on and maybe I can clear some of it up for you. Firstly, lets start with 4wd Rims.

So firstly let’s start with the basics. There are essentially two types of 4wd rims; Alloy and Steel.

Whats the difference between Alloy and Steel Rims

Alloy and Steel rims are pretty easy to tell apart. Most modern 4wd rims now days are alloy. With the movement towards soccer mums and urban four wheel drives that never leave the bitumen, alloy rims have more visual appeal. They’re usually silver and shiny and look nice. According to Jax Quickfit Tyres, the main differences between alloy’s and steelies are:

Alloy rims are made of lightweight metal alloys (hence the name)

Because they’re lighter, they have less rotational resistance and therefore allow the vehicle to accelerate faster

Alloy wheels shed heat better than steel wheels

Alloy rims tend to be stronger

Alloy rims have a lower melting temperature.

Alloys are usually much more expensive

Another thing to keep in mind when 4 wheeling, is that if you damage an alloy rim, then it may be more difficult to repair out in the bush. Or in fact at all. On the other hand, if your steel rim is dented or deformed, then you can generally tap (bash) it back into shape.

So what’s best for us 4wd enthusiasts? Well, that’s up to you really. If your wanting to be more robust offroad it makes sense to look at steel rims. It’s work checking out Beaurepaires Website to check out their range of $WD alloys and Steelies. I have found them to be the cheapest way to buy rims online, Generally a lot cheaper than the Brick And Mortor Counterparts.

What does Stud Pattern mean

Very basically, the stud pattern of a rim is how many nuts you have to undo to change your tyre. Most 4wd rims have either 5 or 6 studs or nuts, that hold them on. Understand? Pretty simple really, right?

Well there is actually more to it than just that. A stud pattern is expressed as two numbers.

So for example, on a rim that has an even number of bolt holes, a stud pattern of something like 6 x 125 would mean that there are 6 bolt holes and the distance between the centres of opposite bolts is 125mm.

On a rim with an odd number of bolt holes, for example, 5 x 125, there are obviously 5 bold holes. But the measurement of 125 is taken from the back side of one bolt hole, to the centre of the most opposite bolt hole. Confused? Take a look at the pictures. They’re worth a thousand words. Thanks to Wheel-Size.com.

6 bolt stud pattern – Measure from centre to centre

5 bold stud pattern – Measure from the back of one to the centre of the most opposite one

4WD Rim Size

The size of your Rim is measured usually in inches and is made up of two parts. The diameter and the width. So in the example at the very top of this page, I mentioned a Rim size of 16 x 7.5. This means that the diameter is 16 inches, and the width is 7.5 inches. That’s not to difficult either right?

Rim Offset

Rim offset is a measure, in millimetres, of the distance between the hub of your rim (where it actually mounts to your car) and the centre line of your rim. Why are diameter and width measured in inches, where offset is measured in millimetres? No idea. If you find out then please comment below!

So imagine you’re looking straight at your tyre as it’s rolling towards you. You’re looking at the tyre tread. Imagine a line drawn from top to bottom, splitting the tyre in two, length-ways. The offset is how far away your hub is from that centre line.

Positive offset – A positive offset means that your hub sits outside the centre line if your rim. Effectively this pulls your tyres back in towards your vehicle. It also makes the rim appear ‘flatter’ from the outside.

Zero offset – A zero offset means that your hub sits exactly on that centre line of your rim.

The image to the right shows this perfectly. Note that the right-hand side of each rim in the picture is the outer side. The one that you’d be able to see if it were on a car.

4wd Rims

That basically explains 4wd Rims for you. Hopefully, you’re a little less confused about the whole thing now. If I say to you that “I run a set of 285/75/R16s on a 16 x 7.5 steel rim with a +10 offset”, at least you’ll be able to decipher half of it now.

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Only taken six hours to log on to a web site to explain ( without paying and easy access ) the basic of tyre sizes and offsets. I value your advise and taken into consideration what’s best for me and vehicle with a confidence. I will recommend this site to many in the same situation that I was once in. Thank you so much. Phill

So you can take TYRES off and put them on any rim you like (within reason).

As long as the rims are similar widths and the same diameter then you should be able to swap tyres around. The problems come if you’re trying to fit a 16″ tyre on a 17″ diametre rim. Or a 17″ tyre on a 16″ diameter rim. That’s never going to work in anyone’s books.

So as long as your tyre diameters are the same then start looking at the rim width. There is some flexibility here. for example you can probably take a tyre off a 7.5″ wide rim and put it on a 7″ wide rim. But it’s best to talk to your local tyre or 4×4 shop.

Just wondering what difference the rim offset makes to driving? You mentioned that a positive offset pulls the tyres back in towards the vehicle, but I’m not sure what difference that makes to handling etc.

So imagine you standing there with your feet shoulder with apart and someone pushing you over sideways. Then imagine you standing there with your feet together. It’d be easier for them to push you over right? Same with your rims n tyres. Swapping rims for those with more positive offset would generally be a bad idea. Bringing the tyres in towards the centre of the vehicle will effectively reduce the width (vehicle track) and make it much easier to roll over. And nobody wants that. I can’t recall but I think that it’s illegal to reduce the vehicle track at all anyway.

Now imagine you standing there with your feet wider than shoulder with apart. It’d be much harder to push you over sideways, right? So adding rims with more negative offset pushes the tyres outwards, widening the vehicle track. So making it harder to roll over. This would mean you could push it a bit harder around corners too. I think it is legal to widen your vehicle track as long as your tyres remain inside your wheel arches, or you add flares or something…

How does replacing a 17” tyre with a 16” inch spacesaver do to the 4WD components? Since you now have two different size wheels, on the rear axle, what speed are you restricted too? Why do manufacturers replace a normal tyre with a spacesaver on a 4WD, defeats the purpose of owning a 4WD

Manufacturers put space saver spares in for a couple of reasons I reckon.
1) They’re cheaper
2) They take up less space
3) They don’t expect that anyone is actually going to use the vehicle offroad

If you’re driving your car with the space saver on, but not in full 4wd then you’ll be fine. The differential will allow the wheels to spin at different speeds because that’s its job. But as soon as you engage 4wd or lock your diff then you’ll be in trouble. It’ll cause wind-up which can break stuff…

Got a question regarding “multi fit” rims.
I’ve read that the weight of the vehicle is (when using this type of rim) is now on the studs rather than the centre hub.
Are these even legal for 4wd’s?
Are they recommended or should they be onroad use only?

On my land rover free-lander the car has 15 inch rims with higher profile tires (115/70/R15) so that the speedo reads right, where as the standard rims are 16 inch.
Why would the previous owner have put smaller rims on the car ?
Should i change them back to the stock 16 inch rims ?

One reason for putting a smaller rim on with higher profile tyres is so that you have more rubber between the road and your rims. So when you deflate your tyres to go offroad, you tyres can ‘bag out’ more. Also there is less chance of pinching the tyre between a hard rock and the rim. Does that make sense?

Should you swap them back to 16″ rims? I don’t see any reason to do so if you don’t want to… If they’re working fine then no need to change back.

Hi Andrew
I’d be reluctant to provide specific advice on specific rims and tyres… There are lots of things to consider including legal requirements etc. Maybe head down to your local 4wd store and ask them what they think.

I have a 1999 Toyota prado rv6, would a negative offset be better for 4wdriving? Will this be illegal? Like would I get a yellow sticker, and disadvantages and advantages of having negative offset ? And the same with positive and neutral? Cheers

Its’ not the offset that is the worry. It’s about how much it sticks out past your wheel arches. Or if your tyres will then make contact with your brakes etc… Have a play with this website:https://rimsntires.com/specspro.jsp

I recently swapped my 15×7 alloys to 15×8 black steelies with -25mm offset. My ride is 2010 Hilux KUN26R 3.0 1KD. After the swap, it started giving me lots of issues. Tyres stared rubbing the splash guards. And the biggest issue was when I engage 4WD, it is very hard to turn. The steering gets damn harder. My friends telling me that the -25mm offset is too much for my Hilux. What do you think about this?

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Hi, I’m Jimmy Mitchell and I love exploring the off beaten tracks with my wife and two boys.

As an avid 4 wheel driver, I’m very keen to share my experiences and adventures. On this blog, I share all the things I learn about Off-Roading as I go.

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